This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
In October, lower school fine arts teacher Gerry-louise Robinson took part in judging a creative hat contest at the San Francisco Partnership Walk/Run, organized by the Aga Khan Foundation at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont. Founded in 1967, the Aga Khan Foundation looks for solutions to problems such as poverty, hunger and health in poor areas of the world. The purpose of the contest was to allow participants to express creatively the ideals of the Aga Khan Foundation and demonstrate its mission to bring about peace and good will by reducing poverty. Entries were judged on how well they met the contest’s criteria, their creativity and originality, aesthetic value and presentation.
Harker Office of Communication staff writer Debbie Cohen recently appeared on KPIX 5’s “Mosaic” TV program, in which she was one of several local authors featured. Cohen’s book, “Keeper of the Scale,” tells the story of three women who come together to support one another in losing weight. Originally an e-book, “Keeper of the Scale” is now available as a trade paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Diane Main showed no signs of slowing down after her busy summer. The upper school’s learning, innovation and design director taught two sessions at the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s EdTech Innovation Symposium in Santa Clara. Main, a passionate advocate for technology in the classroom who is both a Google Certified Teacher and a Google Apps Certified Trainer, showed teachers how to use an educational version of the popular computer game Mine- craft as a way of teaching collaborative problem-solving. She also led a discussion with fellow teachers on how to improve teaching methods and collaboration.
As of November, at least one Harker teacher has a planet named after them! Middle school biology teacher Kristen Morgensen had a planet named for her as recognition for mentoring Rajiv Movva, grade 9, to the finals of the Broadcom MASTERS competition. Each of the finalists also had planets named for them. “It’s pretty amazing to receive this recognition, and I am beyond honored to have worked with Rajiv last year,” said Morgensen.
Brighid Wood, director of Harker’s soccer programs, traveled the U.S. in October as team liaison official for the Trinidad and Tobago women’s national soccer team. The team was competing in the Confederation of North, Central American and Carib- bean Association Football (CONCACAF) women’s World Cup qualifiers held around the country.
Wood fulfilled a similar role for the Azerbaijan men’s national team when it played the U.S. men’s national team last spring in San Francisco prior to the World Cup. Being invited to help international visitors is a result of the great work Wood has done in the past for men’s U.S. soccer.
Wood joined U.S. officials and the Trinidad and Tobago team in Kansas City, where it played the U.S. women’s national team. She and the team then traveled to Chicago to play Haiti; Washington, D.C., to play Guatemala; and Philadelphia to play both Costa Rica and Mexico. Wood’s duties included helping the team with their operational setups, fielding media requests and, in some cases, working with goalkeepers. Wood lived hand in glove with the team, staying at the hotels, eating meals, attending training sessions and participating in pregame scouts.
The T&T team’s head coach is Randy Waldrum, former coach at Notre Dame University, where he took the team to two national championships, and current head coach of the Houston Dash professional women’s team. Waldrum is also a former U.S. youth national team coach.
“Over the last 11 years as a coach, Coach Waldrum has been a great mentor to me,” said Wood. “The whole trip gave me a fantastic opportunity to work alongside one of the great coaches in women’s college soccer history. It also gave me the opportunity to learn from Ben Waldrum, Coach Waldrum’s son and T&T assistant coach, who works with the FC Dallas youth teams, and to learn from the U.S. Soccer staff.”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
September Tournaments Yield TOC Bids
Harker debaters were busy in late September, earning impressive results at two events!
The debate team had a great weekend at the Greenhill Round Robin and Invitational in Dallas. Pranav Reddy, grade 12, was the first-place speaker in Lincoln- Douglas debate in both the round robin and the invitational. The round robin is for the top 16 Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the country, so a first place finish is quite an accomplishment. Reddy also made it to the quarterfinals of the invitational. Ayush Midha, grade 12 was the second place policy speaker at the invitational (out of 232 competitors). Midha and Panny Shan, grade 11, made it to the octofinals of the invitational. All three students earned one of the two required qualifying bids for the Tournament of Champions.
Nine Harker debaters traveled to New Haven, Conn., to compete at the Yale Debate Invitational. Alumni coaches Arjun Kumar ’14 and Aneesh Chona ’13 coached public forum debate and served as judges.
Sophomore Michael Tseitlin earned a bid to the prestigious Tournament of Champions by making it to the semi- final chamber in congressional debate.
Harker hosted the 15th annual Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational Debate Tournament on the last weekend of September. A total of 380 students from 26 California schools participated in the tournament, which was run primarily by Harker debate students. In addition to various debate competitions, the event included several workshops taught by Harker debate captains.
“These workshops were dreamed up by Harker captains years ago and have become something we are known for as our successful older students teach Harker and outside students who are new to debate,” said Harker debate teacher Carol Green.
The weekend also included a special novice public forum tournament for debaters in grades 6-8, in which 35 middle school students participated.
Grade 11 Debater Named to National Student Leadership Committee, Upper School Program Honored
On Oct. 13, Eesha Chona, grade 11, was selected to be a part of the National Speech & Debate Association’s Student Leadership Committee, which represents the needs of debate students and encourages student leaders to advocate for other association members. As a member of the committee, Chona will serve as a role model to other debate students, participate in monthly meetings and engage with social media outlets.
Additionally, the upper school’s speech and debate program was recognized for its extraordinary success by being named to the National Speech & Debate Association’s Pentagon Society, thereby making it one of the top 0.1 percent of high school speech and debate programs in the country, according to their press release. Harker earned this honor by receiving more than 500 honorary degrees during the 2013-14 school year. Harker ranked 15th overall out of 3,000 member schools nationwide.
Middle School Holds Intramural Tournament
On Oct. 30, 85 middle school students and their parents participated in the October Intramural Speech and Debate Tournament. Each student competed in three competitive rounds against other Harker students to practice and get a feel for what a competitive round is like. Parents and high school students volunteered as judges. The event was run in a timely fashion, with more than 50 total speech and debate rounds taking place on a Thursday evening.
Success Continues Through October
Harker debate students continued their successful year at a tournament held at the University of the Pacific in Stockton at the end of October. Andrew Tierno, grade 10, took second place in open dramatic interpretation, while Lisa Liu, grade 11, earned third place in open humorous interpretation.
Meanwhile, the team of David Jin, grade 11, and Alex Lam, grade 10, and the team of freshmen Derek Kuo and Justin Xie, both finished in the top eight of open public forum debate.
Earlier in the month, at the St. Mark’s School in Dallas, policy debaters Ayush Midha and Panny Shan reached the semifinal round, finishing third out of 76 teams. Midha was named 14th speaker in the tournament and, on the invitation of a group of debate coaches, gave a special speech at St. Mark’s. These results qualified Midha and Shan for the Tournament of Champions.
At a Lincoln-Douglas debate event held at Presentation High School, Pranav Reddy was named the first-place speaker in the round robin and invitational events, in addition to reaching the semifinal round of the invitational and qualifying for the Tournament of Champions. Karen Qi, grade 11, reached the quarterfinals of the invitational, placing her one step closer to qualifying for the Tournament of Champions.
Students Earn Accolades and TOC Spots in Public Forum
More than 30 Harker students attended the Presentation High School Public Forum Invitational held the weekend of Nov. 8. Eighteen upper school students competed in the varsity division while four upper school and eight middle school students competed in the novice division; three seniors came to the tournament to coach novices.
Two of Harker’s varsity teams made it into the Elite Eight, with one team debating its way to the final two, losing the final round on a 2-1 decision. Seniors Nikhil Kishore and Vamsi Gadiraju rocked their first tournament of the season as final-round participants and earned their first leg to the Tournament of Champions.
Kishore and Gadiraju are the fifth Harker public forum team to earn half of their qualifying legs only two months into the season.
The top eight teams in elimination rounds included the duo known as “The Brothers Lin” – David Lin, grade 12, and his younger brother Jimmy Lin, grade 9.
Sorjo Banerjee, grade 11, was named as the top overall individual speaker at the tournament with five other Harker students being recognized in the top 15 overall.
Success in Minneapolis
Six middle school and 10 upper school students traveled to Apple Valley, Minn., in early November to compete at the MinneApple Debate Tournament. This is the first year Harker middle school students have competed at this high school varsity national invitational and everyone had a wonderful time!
Every team from Harker won at least one of their preliminary rounds, an especially notable accomplishment for the middle schoolers as they were the only grade 7 debaters in the pool of mostly high school juniors and seniors.
Eesha Chona and Joyce Huang, grade 10, were 33rd seed and missed elimination rounds by the speaker point tie-breaker. Juniors Suraj Jagadeesh and Nikhil Bopardikar went undefeated in preliminaries and lost a close match in the first elimination round. Bopardikar was also named seventh overall individual speaker out of more than 200 speakers in the varsity division!
Abhinav Ketineni and Jasmine Liu, both grade 11, also went undefeated in prelims. They lost in the Sweet 16 as did the team of Alex Lam and David Jin. Both teams earned their first of two qualifying legs to the Tournament of Champions. Ketineni was also the ninth overall individual speaker.
Sorjo Banerjee and sophomore Emaad Raghib represented Harker all the way to the Elite Eight, losing in the quarterfinal round. They also picked up their first leg to the Tournament of Champions.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Football
Junior varsity B flag football (grade 5) went 5-1 in league (tied for first place). Team awards went to Eric Bollar (MVP), Rishi Jain and Anquan Boldin, Jr. (Eagle), and Raj Patel (Coaches).
Intramural flag football (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. Although they do not compete in games, the boys learned a lot and had fun with their friends. Team awards went to Rohan Gorti (Eagle), and Freddy Hoch and Dylan Parikh (Coaches).
Softball
Junior varsity A softball (grades 4-6) went 1-5-1 in league (sixth place). Team awards went to Alexandra Baeckler, grade 6 (MVP), Brooklyn Cicero, grade 5 (Eagle) and Emma Crook, grade 5 (Coaches).
Intramural softball (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. They did not play in any games, but the girls enjoyed learning and building skills. Team awards went to Brooke Baker (MVP), Keesha Gondipalli (Eagle) and Allison Lee (Coaches).
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Every year, dozens of Harker’s upper school students submit projects to the Intel Science Talent Search and Siemens Competition. These projects, often created during summer internships at university science labs, are the result of months of research, writing and refinement. This feature highlights just a fraction of the amazing work being performed by Harker students every year. To read more about the projects on page 29, please go to our Science Projects 2014 section in Harker News, or search “perseverance.”
Roshni Pankhaniya Grade 12
For her project, “Analyzing First-Trimester MicroRNA as a Marker for Assessing Adverse Pregnancy Risk,” senior Roshni Pankhaniya researched at Stanford University’s Human Immune Monitoring Center (HIMC). She was especially interested in immunology. “When looking for an area of research, I focused on finding professors targeting specific disorders/diseases,” she said. Her mentors, Xuhuai Ji and Holden T. Maecker, “helped me come up with the basic experimental design of the project and advised me on how to conduct the data analysis.”
Pankhaniya found her research internship by searching for projects that she found interesting and contacting the professors working on them. “I chose to work on this specific project because preeclampsia is a reproductive condition faced by approximately 8 percent of women worldwide, is the leading cause of maternal mortality and could not be detected prior to 10 weeks gestation, the latest time period for preventative therapy,” she said. Her goal was to come up with a way of detecting preeclampsia before 10 weeks gestation in order to find ways to treat it and thus lower the number of maternal deaths.
“It was great being able to work with experts in the field in such an advanced technical setting,” Pankhaniya said. “In addition to doing research, I was able to attend lectures given by Stanford and visiting professors, as well as talk to other professors in the department about their research.”
Despite being a high school student, Pankhaniya found the staff at HIMC to be welcoming and respectful. “It was amazing how eagerly they welcomed a high school student into the lab and never for a moment did I feel that I was ‘just’ a high school student, but rather was a member of the team,” she recalled.
Among her most exciting moments during her research was discovering with the team that “we could use maternal cell MicroRNA to detect risk for preeclampsia prior to 10 weeks gestation. Our findings are really interesting in that they suggest that maternal cell MicroRNA plays a greater role in fetal development than placental cell MicroRNA. We will look to understand why that is so in the future.
“Overall,” Panhkaniya said, “this was one of the most fulfilling and most memorable experiences of high school due to interactions I was able to have with experts in the field and the research experience I gained.”
David Lin Grade 12
Senior David Lin turned to cosmology for his project, “Physical Properties and Evolution of Gravitationally Bound Halo Structures in Cosmological Dark Matter Simulations.”
“I chose this area of research since it was an interesting intersection of physics, computer science and astronomy,” Lin said. His project concerned the characteristics of dark matter halos, which play a key role in the formation of galaxies. “This knowledge will be useful in predicting how dark matter behaves in nonvirialized regions of space and will supplement existing galaxy formation theories.”
Lin was in good company during his time researching at the University of California, Santa Cruz, being mentored by Dr. Joel Primack and postdoctoral researcher Miguel Rocha. “One of the most exciting parts of my research was being able to work under such accomplished faculty,” he said. “For instance, [Primack] pioneered the famous LCDM Theory, which explains how the universe evolved after the Big Bang.”
Harker faculty, including upper school science teachers Chris Spenner and Anita Chetty, were instrumental in helping Lin find the right opportunity. “Many of the faculty like Mr. Spenner and Ms. Chetty helped me find my internship opportunity and helped edit my research paper afterward,” he said.
One of the most interesting parts of Lin’s research was how the team measured dark matter. “Most matter in the universe is composed of dark matter, which doesn’t interact with light and is therefore difficult to measure,” he said. “As such, we use computer simulations to model this matter to find how the universe evolves over time.”
Cindy Liu Grade 12
Cindy Liu, grade 12, enjoyed the work she was doing in science classes, so a research internship seemed like a natural next step. “I’ve always liked doing labs and reading articles in science classes, and I thought research would be a good way to learn more about a particular topic in a different way, not just through textbooks and lectures,” she said.
For her project, “Characterizing Novel Binders as Tools for Understanding Chloride Transport Mechanisms,” she researched at Stanford University’s molecular and cellular physiology department as well as under the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research (SIMR) program.
Because she enjoyed learning about the workings of the human body and cellular function, the program was a good fit. “I’m also considering pursuing medicine or biomedical engineering in the future, so this project seemed like a good way to test my interest in these areas,” she said.
Her research involved two proteins that were potential inhibitors of CLC, “a chloride-proton antiporter that moves chloride and protons across membranes,” Liu said. “If they are shown to bind to and inhibit CLC, they can be further characterized in order to help gain greater understanding of CLC structure and function.”
Liu found the experience to be rewarding, with some neat surprises. “This was my first time doing actual wet lab research, so I loved being able to set up the experiments and collect the raw data myself instead of just analyzing someone else’s data,” she said. “Also, since my project was part of a larger program for high school students, I got to meet other students with similar interests and listen to various presentations from graduate students, doctors and researchers – even a Nobel Prize winner!”
The resources and support Liu found at Harker proved invaluable in helping her discover this opportunity. “Harker has provided so many resources, from general information on various research opportunities to internships students can apply for directly through Harker,” she said. “Harker research and science teachers are also very supportive of students’ research ideas and goals.”
Liu would like to continue her studies in this field, but said she is keeping an open mind. “I hope to do science research in college, especially in molecular and cellular physiology if I get the chance. But I’m also open to exploring and learning about other fields as well!”
Rahul Balakrishnan Grade 12
Senior Rahul Balakrishnan’s interest in computer science led him to the Science Internship Program (SIP) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he studied astronomy with mentor Angie Wolfgang, a graduate student. “I choose the astronomy field since it focuses on a broader application of computer science. I wanted to see programming at work outside of an office setting,” said Balakrishnan.
After seeing several Harker students complete successful internships at UC Santa Cruz, Balakrishnan began his own internship there after being alerted to the opportunity by science chair Anita Chetty. He found himself working in the university’s multi-disciplinary building, which was aptly named. “The research in this building was truly multidisciplinary, with a slight emphasis toward astronomy,” he said. “Not only did every floor sport a different field of science, but also I worked in the same room as other interns from the same program who were exploring projects related to cancer cells and marine animals.”
The overall atmosphere in the building was one of collaboration, with students helping one another in various ways. “Although we couldn’t collaborate in the specifics of each other’s projects, we aided each other through more general forms, such as coding, formatting spreadsheets and making PowerPoint presentations,” Balakrishnan said.
Balakrishnan’s project, “Designing a Spectroscopy Based Software to Produce Spectra of Kepler’s Binary Host Stars,” involved finding a way to identify binary stars. “We hoped to create a new system to confirm that two stars were binary stars, or gravitationally bound in some way.”
Collecting the data was one of the more fascinating parts of Balakrishnan’s internship. “I went to Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton to see how my mentor collected the pictures that I would analyze,” he recalled. “The process involved using a giant laser that shot a light into the clouds to simulate a star.
“Our program can turn an image of a star from a spectrometer into a fully developed spectral graph,” he added. “Although the project was hundreds of lines of code long, the most complex data structure I used was a two-dimensional list.”
Although he doesn’t plan to continue studying astronomy, the overall experience did enhance his applicable knowledge of computer science. “I will almost certainly use my acquired programming knowledge in future coding projects and college classes,” he said.
Neil Movva Grade 12
In an effort to explore the processes by which the body heals itself, senior Neil Movva studied under Dr. Jill Helms at the Hagey Lab for Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford University. The eventual result was his research project, “Force Responsive Reconstruction: Characterizing the Morphogenesis of the Periodontal Ligament through Biomechanical and Histological Analysis.”
“I’ve always been fascinated by the body’s self-healing processes, and have done previous research on wound healing, tissue reconstruction and biomaterials,” Movva said. “Studying the reconstruction of ligaments is vital to furthering our understanding of how the human body adapts to changing physical conditions, and is especially relevant in the context of modern society’s growing senior population that will experience ligament wear and degeneration.”
In his research, Movva helped reignite a field that he believed had gone stagnant. “I employed advanced, novel techniques to identify and then demonstrate our new hypothesis regarding collagen fiber reconstruction at the cellular level,” he said, “bringing a new, data-backed viewpoint to the field after more than 50 years of stagnation.”
Helms “has been incredibly generous in sharing her knowledge and offering guidance as I learned the ropes of professional research,” he added.
He also found help among Harker’s science faculty, both in finding opportunities and refining his work. “Mr. Chris Spenner has fostered my interest in science research for the past three years, and graciously wrote recommendation letters to land me a position at Helms’ lab,” Movva said. “After I came back to school, Ms. Chetty patiently reviewed and edited my paper, while Mr. Spenner again lent his expertise to answer my questions as they popped up.”
One of the most exciting aspects of Movva’s work was the possibility of creating incredibly accurate computer models that can greatly assist doctors. “With the biologically corroborated framework I documented,” he said, “doctors may soon be able to perform rapid computer modeling of joints and other bony structures to determine the precisely optimal solution before beginning any invasive procedures.”
He also enjoyed seeing his work visualized through state-of-the- art technology. “A large part of my project focused on biomechanical computer-assisted modeling, and it’s hard to beat the excitement of seeing the first solution, visualized as a mesmerizing 3-D heatmap, after weeks of model construction and optimization,” he explained.
Karen Tu Grade 11
Although she had been interested in biology for some time, junior Karen Tu decided to embark on an internship to “get a better idea of what biological/wet lab research was like.”
She ended up at the pathology department at Stanford University, where she and a partner were mentored by graduate student Andrew Huh. “He basically taught us everything from basic biology to dissection techniques for our project,” Tu said.
While admitting that she “didn’t really have a specific interest in genetics or neurodegenerative diseases before my internship,” Tu developed an interest in the topic while researching for her project, “A Novel Tool for Monitoring Mitochondrial Calcium Dynamics in Dopaminergic Neurons.”
“I think that neurological diseases are really interesting because even a small change in the concentration of a certain substance in your brain could have drastic effects,” she said. “It’s really hard for doctors to diagnose and treat these diseases, so this field of research is also really important for improving our understanding of these diseases.”
Tu’s project was to develop [research that] may be used to test treatments for Parkinson’s disease. “In our project, we needed to find a single white-eyed fly from our entire stock,” she said. “This fly indicated that our project had succeeded, so we were really excited when we finally found it.”
Her colleagues also made her feel welcome and included. “Our lab had monthly lab meetings, where everyone would come down from their various rooms and discuss their research and the problems they encountered together,” Tu said. “The PI (principal investigator) whom I worked with and visiting researchers from other universities gave lectures, which were a highlight of the summer.”
One of the more fascinating things she learned during the course of her research, she said, was the stunning variety of fruit flies. “Before I started this project, I had no idea that fruit flies could have so many different physical variations,” she said. “There’s an entire spectrum of eye colors, wing shapes and other random appendages that they can develop.”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Harker’s 2014 Homecoming was a fun-filled event for the entire community. On an unseasonably hot fall afternoon, students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni arrived at the upper school campus in droves to socialize, enjoy fresh food pre- pared by the Harker kitchen staff, watch performances by talented Harker students and root for the Eagles football team.
The bounce houses set up on Rosenthal Field were again a popular attraction for the younger attendees, while alumni gathered to catch up and reminisce at a special area set up by the Harker Alumni Association. John and Christine Davis (Cole Davis ’10) stationed their RV a few steps over, where onlookers stopped to watch various ongoing sporting events on the RV’s side- mounted television screen.
Mrs. Carley’s Café was busy for the duration of the event, providing hot food to a steady line of attendees. A nearby gelato truck offered a highly sought-after cold treat. In addition, representatives from various classes sold pizza to help raise money for class events.
Prior to the game, the crowd began to gather to see the first of the pregame performances, a dance routine by the junior cheer squad, who received enthusiastic applause. Varsity Dance Troupe amped up the crowd with its spirited choreography, and the strains of Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle” rang through the air as the Eaglets soared on to the field for their ever-popular Eaglet Fly-By.
The Harker Pep Band, directed by Chris Florio, took its usual position in the bleachers, where it remained for the entire event, playing enthusiastically in response to the on-field action and keeping the crowd pumped.
Halftime opened with a performance by the Harker cheer squad, after which the seniors met the juniors for the finals of this year’s tug-of-war contest. The juniors made the struggle contentious at the start, but in the end were no match for the might of the seniors, who were crowned this year’s champions. Later on, grades 9 and 10 faced off for third place in the competition, with the sophomores coming away victorious.
Soon after, the crowd greeted this year’s stunningly dressed Homecoming Court, who circled the field waving to the adoring audience. The crowd applauded vigorously as senior siblings Shiki and Shreya Dixit were named Homecoming King and Queen.
Meanwhile, on Davis Field, Harker cruised to victory over Los Angeles’ Ribet Academy, with a final score of 51-6. Harker pulled ahead early, scoring no less than seven touchdowns in the first half. Ribet answered with a touchdown in the third quarter, but the Eagles held them off until the end of the game.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
What a fall season it was for Harker sports! The girls varsity volleyball team became the first Harker team in any sport to host a NorCal playoff game, and, on the way, won a league championship and tied an Eagles record for the highest-ever CCS seed. Meanwhile, the tennis squad tied a Harker record for the most victories in one season; an Eagles golfer made it further than any other; a cross country runner raced to the highest state result in Harker history; and the water polo teams ended the season with wins. In addition, the football squad, with a freshman quarterback honored by the San Jose Mercury News, pulled off stunning comebacks and marched to enormous blowouts. It was an amazing, record-breaking season for the Eagles – and the year is just getting started!
Golf The golf team’s big story this year was freshman sensation Katherine Zhu. Zhu, who earlier in the season was named to the American Junior Golf Association’s Gary Gilchrist All-Star Team, which includes the top 10 female golfers between 12 and 15 years old, turned in spectacular performances for the Eagles. After winning the WBAL individual championship, Zhu shot a 3-under-par 69 at the CCS Championships. That catapulted her into the Northern California Championships in Salinas, further than any golfer in Harker history. As a whole, the team finished third in the league championships after going 5-5-1 for a .500 record. To boot, the middle school team took first place at the WBAL tournament at Los Lagos – its sixth WBAL championship in a row. The future looks very bright for Harker golf!
Cross Country Cross country broke records as well, as Niki Iyer, grade 10, ran for the highest state result in Eagles cross country history, finishing fifth out of 193 runners at the state cross country championships. Earlier in the season, Iyer and senior Corey Gonzales each ran in the league cross country championships and finished second, sending them to the CCS Championships. There, Gonzales placed eighth out of 100 runners, while Iyer had the fifth-best time of the day across all runners in all divisions. Also at CCS, Alexandra Dellar and Jack Rothschild, both grade 11, ran personal bests. Iyer also won Santa Clara County Girls Athlete of the Week in recognition of her 10th place finish and personal-best 18:18 run at the Clovis Invitational, a multistate championship race.
Tennis The girls varsity squad finished the year with a 15-7 record, tied for the most victories in a season in Harker girls tennis history. The Eagles won their first-round CCS match beating York School 4-3, before falling the next day to league rival Menlo to end the season.
Volleyball Fall marked one of the most remarkable seasons for girls volleyball – and, indeed, for any sports team in Harker’s history! The girls varsity team made it all the way to the second round of the NorCal Championships and, in so doing, became the first team in Eagles history in any sport to host a NorCal playoff game. Overall, the girls won nearly two-thirds of their games, finishing with a 19-10 record. The team won a WBAL league co-championship, clinched with a win over Sacred Heart Prep on Senior Night. After that, the team earned a No. 2 seed in the CCS tournament, tying them with their 2007 counterparts for the highest seed ever by an Eagles volleyball team. The girls’ amazing year also made headlines in the San Jose Mercury News, as the team was ranked in the paper, and senior Shreya Dixit was named Santa Clara County Girls Athlete of the Week for a tremendous stretch of performances against Menlo and Notre Dame-San Jose earlier in the year.
Football The Eagles ended the season with a 4-6 record in a dynamic rebuilding year that saw the team start six freshmen in varsity play all year long, including quarterback Nate Kelly, who racked up an insane 480 yards of total offense in the team’s final game of the year, a 48-15 trumping of St. Francis-Watsonville on Senior Night that sent seniors and team leaders Keanu Forbes, Sid Krishnamurthi, Christian Williams, Alyssa Amick and Allen Huang off in style. Kelly also was featured in the San Jose Mercury News’ sports highlight reel of top performances for a game in which he threw for 210 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 108 yards and three touchdowns to lead Harker to a 64-60 blowout victory. The most amazing game of this year, though, came in mid-October. After being down 21-0 in the first quarter, the Eagles roared back to capture a 32-28 victory on their final drive of the game when Forbes bolted into the endzone to cap off a magical game.
Water Polo Both clubs finished the season on winning notes. The boys finished with a 12-11 overall record and a third- place league finish, while the girls ended the year at 9-12 overall for a fifth-place league finish.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Football Varsity A flag football (grade 8) went 4-2 in league (third place) and 10-2 overall. The VA team also took first place at the Harker Flag Football tournament. Team awards went to Demonte Aleem (MVP), Jackson Williams (Eagle), and Charlie Molin and Zachary Hoffman (Coaches).
Varsity B flag football (grade 7) went 3-3 in league (fifth place) and 7-5 overall. The VB team also took first place at the Harker Flag Football tournament. Team awards went to James Rugnao and Aaron Featherstone (Co-MVP), Jeffrey Liu (Eagle) and Naveen Mirapuri (Coaches).
Junior varsity A flag football (grade 6) went 5-1 in league (second place) and 6-1 overall. Team awards went to Michael Mitchell (MVP), Srinath Somasundaram (Eagle), and Arjun Virmani and Marcus Anderson (Coaches).
Softball Varsity A softball (grade 6-8) went 6-1 in league (second place) and 6-2 overall. Team awards went to Lily Wancewicz and Taylor Lam, both grade 8 (Co-MVP), Alaina Valdez, grade 6 (Eagle) and Cameron Zell, grade 8 (Coaches).
Cross Country Cross country (grades 6-8) enjoyed a phenomenal season! In the final three meets of the season, the team really turned up the heat.
The following were first-place finishers at the Harker meet: Julia Amick, Alycia Cary, Lilia Gonzales, Aneesha Kumar and Anika Rajamani, all grade 8; and Gina Partridge, grade 7. These eighth graders also all were first-place finishers at the Menlo meet, and Amick, Cary, Gonzales, Partridge and Rajamani were first-place finishers at the WBAL final meet.
Team awards went to Mihir Sharma, grade 7 and Amick (top runners); Partridge, Arya Maheshwari, grade 6, and Alex Rule, grade 8 (co-MVPs); Gonzales, Anna Weirich, grade 8, and Noah Lincke, grade 8 (Eagle); and Kumar, Jasmine Wiese and Grant Miner, both grade 7 (Coaches).
Swimming The lower and middle school swim team participated in the Harker and Castilleja meets. First-place finishers at the Harker meet were Lorenzo Martinelli, grade 4, in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ysabel Chen, grade 5, in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ethan Hu, grade 7, in the 100 IM and 50 freestyle; Angela Li, grade 8, in the 100 IM and 50 backstroke; Bobby Bloomquist, grade 8, in the 50 freestyle; Rhys Edwards, grade 6, in the 50 breaststroke; and Matthew Hajjar, grade 8, in the 50 breaststroke.
First-place finishers in the Castilleja meet were Brandon Wang, grade 4, in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Hu in the 100 IM and 50 freestyle; Anh My Tran, grade 7, in the 50 freestyle; Bloomquist in the 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke; Li in the 50 butterfly and 200 breaststroke; Leland Rossi, grade 6, in the 50 backstroke; Andrew Fox, grade 4, in the 25 breaststroke; and Leon Lu, grade 8, in the 50 breaststroke.
Awards for middle school swimming went to Li (MVP), Leah Anderson, grade 6 (Eagle), and Evan Bourke, grade 6 (Coaches). Awards for lower school swimming went to Lorenzo Martinelli (MVP), Arianna Martinelli, grade 4 (Eagle), and Daniel Fields, grade 5 (Coaches).
Last week, grade 9 students Anooshree Sengupta, Mona Lee, Maya Kumar, Aria Coalson, Aliesa Bahri and Jessica Susai – collectively known as the Harker Infinities – were named champions at the Central Valley VEX Robotics Challenge held at Modesto Junior College.
The team had spent months in preparation, meeting every weekend since before the school year had even started. “Our team has been working on the robot since summer during four-hour practice sessions each Saturday and Sunday,” said Coalson.
In addition to extensive work on their robot, the team members maintained a successful spirit of cooperation. “The team did an amazing job of cooperating with each other, staying positive, and putting all of their effort into any and all tasks that they had,” said Bahri. “Also, I loved that our robot design was extremely creative. I didn’t see many teams that resembled our robot’s overall design.”
“I think our stamina throughout the day was incredible. We managed to stay focused and win every match we played,” said Sengupta. “This was helped in part by our adaptability. Although we ran into a couple issues with the mat setup, we either talked to the refs or programmed around it.”
The Infinities’ performance in Modesto put them in contention for the Northern California championship. They hope to perform well enough to qualify for the world championship competition. Lee hopes that by winning a world championship, the Infinities can set an example for girls who aspire to enter robotics, “as it would show that it is just as possible for an all-girls team to win the world championship as it is for any other team.”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Becomes Urban Fantasy in Upper School Production
The Harker Conservatory modernized Shakespeare’s popular tale of love and enchantment in its production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which played at the Blackford Theater Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Director Jeff Draper brought the comedy into the present day, staging the play in a city park setting that occupied the majority of the theater floor, with scenic designer Paul Vallerga strategically placing signs of urbanization throughout: a picnic bench here, a swingset there. This unorthodox set drew the audience closer to the story and also gave them a more well-rounded view of the cast.
Harker’s upper school players buoyantly unfurled the story of arranged marriages, mistaken identities, magical formulas and theatrical ineptitude, giving the play just the right amount of whimsy and charm. Carol Clever’s costume design put the human characters in modern dress while the mischievous, magical fairies were draped in garb that ranged from the regal to the outlandish.
Middle School Fall Play Explores the Conflicts of Character Archetypes
Middle school thespians found themselves in a motley collection of roles in this year’s middle school fall play, Alan Haehnel’s “The Unfinished.” Directed by Monica Colletti, this one-act comedy found its characters at the mercy of a writer (Alexander Kumar, grade 6) who has not yet finished their stories, essentially imprisoning them in his mind. When the innocent Melisande (Claire Russell, grade 7) enters their already crowded world, the characters are forced to examine the significance of a newcomer. The ever-cynical Guy (Haris Hosseini, grade 8) and the hopeful Narrator (Claire Newman, grade 8) disagree on the likelihood that they will ever be realized while the surly Janitor (Max MacKinnon, grade 7) simply wishes they would all leave. In the end, the wide variety of character archetypes, including the Bride and Groom (Dilara Ezer and Matthew Hajjar, both grade 8), the Cheerleader (Ellie Lang-Ree, grade 8) and the Clown (Jai Bahri, grade 7), find themselves freed through the Writer’s clever inclusion of them all in one manuscript – a play titled “The Unfinished.”
Paul Vallerga’s set design was appropriately sparse for this particularly character-driven story. Carol Clever’s costume design was also simple but effective, making the characters appropriately recognizable.
Upper School Singers Shed Light at ‘Ad Amore’
Upper school vocal groups delighted an evening audience in the Nichols Hall auditorium on Nov. 13 with “Ad Amore: Love as a Light,” which featured Bel Canto, Camerata, Guys’ Gig and Cantilena. Bel Canto, directed by Jennifer Sandusky, opened with Michael Praetorius’ “Anima Mea,” the first of a series of songs by European composers, which included the traditional French song “Brilla Brilla Piccola Stella” and “Funiculi, Funicula” by Luigi Denza.
Camerata, the upper school’s mixed chamber ensemble directed by Susan Nace, opened with a pair of hymns – “Barechu” by Salamone Rossi and “Alleluia” by Michael Praetorius – and concluded its set with Adriano Banchieri’s “Contrapunto bestiale alla mente,” which had its singers imitating the sounds of animals over a nonsensical poem sung by the basses.
In a slight departure from its usual fare, the student-run boys group Guys’ Gig began with the traditional “Gaudeamus Igitur,” with an arrangement by Johannes Brahms. Alex Henshall, grade 11, then sang solo on “McDonald’s Girl,” arranged by the Harvard Din and Tonics.
Closing the evening was the women’s choir Cantilena, also directed by Nace, who began with the concert’s namesake, “Ad Amore” by Lee Kesselmann and continued with “Suscepit Israel” from Bach’s “Magnificat.” Following a rendition of Franz Biebl’s uplifting “Ave Maria,” Cantilena ended with Greg Jasperse’s dynamic “Voice Dance.”
Violinist Frank Almond Gives Master Class Prior to Concert Series Performance
Prior to his performance at the Harker Concert Series (see page 40), Milwaukee Symphony concertmaster and player of the 1715 “Lipinski” Stradivarius, Frank Almond, gave a special master class to Harker students in the Nichols Hall auditorium. Almond discussed and taught classical violin technique to several students, going over concepts such as proper bowing technique, posture and changing the character of notes by holding the bow at various angles.
Excelsa Quartet Offers Workshop to Harker Students
The Maryland-based Excelsa Quartet gave a special workshop to Harker students in early October. Currently a quartet in residence at Stanford University’s Emerging String Quartet Program, the all-female ensemble played selections from their repertoire, offered insights as to how they work together and advised students on how to be more cohesive. For example, the group suggested using words as signals when learning to play rhythmically complex passages and practicing with simpler pieces to warm up for more complex material.
Harker Performers Show Up Big at Santana Row Tree Lighting
Harker performing arts groups had a big presence at the Santana Row tree lighting ceremony, “Light Up the Row,” on Nov. 18. Seven groups performed at the event, which was attended by thousands of people. The students practiced for weeks to prepare for the event, and Harker students comprised more of the evening’s performers than those from any other school. This was the first Santana Row tree lighting to feature Vivace, the middle school mixed choir, which performed The Beach Boys’ “Melekalikimaka.” Also present were a variety of dance groups from the middle and upper schools, including the upper school’s junior varsity and varsity dance squads, the grade 7-8 girls dance group Showstoppers, and the grade 7-8 boys dance group High Voltage. Each of the groups performed two sets, including the upper school show choir Downbeat, which did a funny, Tim Burton-esque take on the holiday mainstay “Deck the Halls.”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Students, parents and teachers agree that the area affectionately known as “the farm” at Harker Preschool is a very special place. This spacious, tree-shaded area on the Union campus enables the children to spend quality time in nature.
The preschoolers take pride in maintaining the farm, which is home to two adorable rabbits and boasts a garden filled with vegetables, herbs and fruit. In the farm’s center is a circle of tree stumps, providing the perfect outdoor classroom. During visits to the farm, students engage in such activities as rabbit feeding, gardening, water pumping, leaf raking and sweeping.
The farm is supervised by the preschool’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) specialist, Robyn Stone, who is also a science/math instructor for the University of California, Santa Cruz Extension. Stone explained that the farm is regularly used by all the students, from the 3- and 4-year-olds in the cottage classrooms to the older children in transitional kindergarten (TK).
“Farm work enables the children to see their own impact on the environment,” said Stone, noting that some examples of learning by doing include the children saving vegan lunch scraps to feed to the rabbits and worms, helping them grow.
“Our newest cool thing is a piece of technology: a pump that enables the students to draw water from a well for the garden, helping them understand that water is precious and not to be wasted in a time of drought,” Stone noted.
The children notice change and make observations about size color, texture and quantity as the plants grow from sprout to flower to fruit, explained Stone. “It is my hope that, in seeing, touching, smelling and tasting the results of their work, the students will develop respect and reverence for nature,” she said.
While all the preschool classrooms have frequent opportunities to use the farm with their teachers, Stone added that her STEM lab makes further use of the area for specific hands-on science lessons. For example, chickens were incubated in the STEM lab. Now the children are enjoying watching the chickens change and grow on the farm.
Stone believes that having both chickens and rabbits onsite provides youngsters with opportunities for learning responsibility and empathy through animal care. Indeed, taking care of the farm’s bunnies has already proven to be a huge hit for both the cottage and TK students.
Three-year-old Charlie Kalko said he likes to “put carrots in the bunny cage nice and gently.”
His classmate, 3-year-old Aila El-Charif, added that during a recent visit to the farm she “ate tomatoes and snap peas and pet the bunny and rode a (pretend) pony.”
Meanwhile, 5-year-old Avi Gupta said he enjoys outings to the farm because “I like the rabbits.”
“Whether as part of an outing during STEM time or during a routine visit with their classroom teachers, all of the preschoolers look forward to spending time on the farm,” said Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool.
In addition to the STEM lab, other specialty classes include art studio, music and movement, and library. All of the classes are rich with activity centers and educational materials, offering a balance between child-directed exploratory learning and teacher-directed activities.